Border fingerprint plan may be axed

BENNETT ROTH, Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Published
6:30 am CST, Sunday, March 7, 2004

CRAWFORD --After meeting with President Bush on Saturday, Mexican President Vicente Fox said the White House had withdrawn a plan to fingerprint and photograph Mexicans who cross the U.S. border for short visits.

A Bush administration official later cautioned that although Bush was committed to backing off the measure, all the details of the border security plan had not been worked out.

On another sensitive issue, Bush would not commit to swift congressional passage of an immigrant worker program, sought by Fox, suggesting it may become a victim of election-year politics.

The fingerprinting and photographing plan developed by the Department of Homeland Security to enhance border security has been a major irritant between the two countries.

Fox has complained that it would result in long lines on the border for Mexicans who work in or make frequent brief visits to the United States.

Furthermore, he has said the administration is not forcing Canadians who travel to the United States to be subject to the same identification measures.

At the news conference, it was the Mexican president who raised the White House's decision to change its policy.

"We welcome the news that was confirmed today with regard to visitors to the U.S. from Mexico," Fox said. "We appreciate what this will do to the flow of visitors now that they will not have to be photographed or fingerprinted at the frontier for short visits to the United States."

While Bush did not contradict Fox's account of the border-crossing agreement, he provided no details about how his administration intends to proceed.

In his opening remarks at his ranch, Bush made no mention of the fingerprinting and photographing requirement, which was scheduled to go into effect along the border later this year.

In response to a reporter's question about the status of various proposals, including reversing the border identification requirements, Bush said, "We're making progress."

McCormack could not say what details needed to be ironed out or how long it would take.

Bush also did not flesh out another agreement announced by Fox that would expand professional visas issued as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

In January, the Department of Homeland Security lifted a cap on the number of professional visas issued, said McCormack.

The two-day meeting was a peacemaking session for the two leaders, who were close early in their terms but split over issues such as Iraq, capital punishment and immigration.

In January, Bush offered an olive branch by proposing a plan sought by Fox to allow illegal immigrants to work in the United States for renewable three-year periods.

However, on Saturday, Bush could not provide the Mexican president much of a progress report on the immigration measure, which is stalled in Congress because of opposition from conservatives as well as liberals.

Bush didn't try to predict when the measure would be taken up.

"I certainly hope the Congress takes this issue up," he said. "But there's no telling what's going to happen in an election year, so it's very difficult to give a date."

The president also defended free trade agreements -- including NAFTA with Mexico and Canada -- which have been blamed by some Democrats for the increasing exodus of jobs from the United States.

"There is no future in walling America off from the rest of the world," Bush said. "American workers and families, no less the people of Mexico and the people of all nations, benefit from free and fair trade."

The two presidents did not publicly address other irritants, including Mexican anger at the execution of their citizens in the United States and American annoyance that Mexico has not made up water debts.

The meeting was Fox's first visit to the ranch, a venue that Bush has traditionally used to reward foreign leaders who have been close to his administration.

Fox canceled a visit in 2002 because of public anger back home over the execution of a Mexican national in Texas. Bush later became annoyed with Fox for refusing to back the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

However, with an election approaching, Bush has mended relations with Fox, a move that the White House hopes will help the president make inroads with Hispanic voters.